Ways to Improve Blog Search Engine Results Through SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Learn how add meta description tags and search descriptions to each of
your Blogger blog posts. This article will walk you through, step by
step, how to add custom descriptions and meta tags to your blog to
promote and improve search engine ranking. This quick and easy tutorial
will help improve your blog's visibility on search engines and increase
traffic to your blog!
In early 2012, Blogger (also known as Blogspot) added a feature to its blogging platform that allowed users to add a custom search description to each of their posts. Prior to this, custom search descriptions could only be achieved through complex HTML code manipulation. This article will walk you through, step by step, how to add custom search descriptions to each of your blog posts so that it shows up on search engines, increasing website traffic and improving search engine optimization (SEO). These search descriptions are called meta tags, and are what search engines pick up when they crawl your blog.
In early 2012, Blogger (also known as Blogspot) added a feature to its blogging platform that allowed users to add a custom search description to each of their posts. Prior to this, custom search descriptions could only be achieved through complex HTML code manipulation. This article will walk you through, step by step, how to add custom search descriptions to each of your blog posts so that it shows up on search engines, increasing website traffic and improving search engine optimization (SEO). These search descriptions are called meta tags, and are what search engines pick up when they crawl your blog.
Step 1: Enable Meta Descriptions in Blogger
Log into Blogger and from your Blogger dashboard, go to Settings --> Search Preferences. Click on the description box and make sure "Enable Search Description" is checked. If you haven't already entered a search description, enter one here. This will be the meta tag description for your overall blog. Click the "Save Changes" button.
Log into Blogger and from your Blogger dashboard, go to Settings --> Search Preferences. Click on the description box and make sure "Enable Search Description" is checked. If you haven't already entered a search description, enter one here. This will be the meta tag description for your overall blog. Click the "Save Changes" button.
Step 2: Add Search Description to Individual Posts
For this step, you can either create a new post or edit an existing post. You should now be on the page where you would type your blog post. On the right hand side of the page, look for the "Post Settings" column. In this column, you will find a box titled "Search Description." In this box, enter the description that you would like to see come up on the results page of a search engine. Click Update or Publish.
For this step, you can either create a new post or edit an existing post. You should now be on the page where you would type your blog post. On the right hand side of the page, look for the "Post Settings" column. In this column, you will find a box titled "Search Description." In this box, enter the description that you would like to see come up on the results page of a search engine. Click Update or Publish.
Step 3: Check Your Meta Tags
You can check whether your meta description tags are working properly by using the handy Meta Tag checker over at Blogger Sentral. Simply type in the URL of an individual blog post, and the tool will show you what a typical search engine would see after it crawls your meta tags. You can also use the Meta Tag Analysis tool to see how effective your meta tags are on a scale of "Horror" to "Excellent
You can check whether your meta description tags are working properly by using the handy Meta Tag checker over at Blogger Sentral. Simply type in the URL of an individual blog post, and the tool will show you what a typical search engine would see after it crawls your meta tags. You can also use the Meta Tag Analysis tool to see how effective your meta tags are on a scale of "Horror" to "Excellent
Step 4: Troubleshooting Meta Tags
If you encountered any problems with the Meta Tag checker in Step 3, it may be due to an outdated or custom Blogger template. This can be easily fixed. Before you move on with this step, I would recommend downloading your full Blogger template first as a backup. On your Blogger dashboard, go to Template --> Edit HTML. Click proceed when the warning message comes up. In the HTML, find the code that looks like this (without the space after the first <):
< b:skin!>[cdata[
Right above this line of code, copy and paste the following (delete the space after the first < in each line):
< b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription != ""'>If you encountered any problems with the Meta Tag checker in Step 3, it may be due to an outdated or custom Blogger template. This can be easily fixed. Before you move on with this step, I would recommend downloading your full Blogger template first as a backup. On your Blogger dashboard, go to Template --> Edit HTML. Click proceed when the warning message comes up. In the HTML, find the code that looks like this (without the space after the first <):
< b:skin!>[cdata[
Right above this line of code, copy and paste the following (delete the space after the first < in each line):
< meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description'/>
< /b:if>
Click Preview and make sure your Blogger template is still working before you save it! Once you've added the HTML code and saved your template, go back to step 3 and use the meta tag checker to verify that the meta tags are now working for individual blog posts before continuing onto step 5
Step 5: Continue Adding Custom Meta Tag Search Descriptions to All Blog Posts
Continue editing and updating the meta tag search descriptions for all your previous blog posts if they don't already exist.
That's it! The custom search descriptions will now show up on search engine results pages. It may take a few days for the descriptions to update in search engines, since major search engines only crawl websites periodically. You've now taken a major step toward Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and increasing traffic to your Blogger blog
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